Houston Astros: Ten Long Years Drought from the Playoffs is Over

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The Start of Something Beautiful

Oct 3, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) waits in the hole during the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Astros player Jose Altuve was a sophomore in high school; Carlos Correa was 11 years old. Both probably dreamed of what could happen, but back then it was only the dreams of schoolboys. It was 2005, and the Houston Astros made it all the way to the World Series – at the time, the only Texas MLB team ever to make the Fall Classic.

Then the bottom dropped out, and the Astros embarked on a decade of futility that nearly killed the spirit of baseball in Houston. Astros fans sunk to the depths of despair that happens to perennially losing teams – teams that suffered three years of 100+ loss seasons. Years when it seemed doubtful that baseball in Houston would even survive, let alone ever be successful again.

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That all changed in 2015. Altuve and Correa had become grown men with fantastic abilities to hit baseballs, run bases, catch baseballs with leaping grabs, and make nearly impossible throws to nail base, runners. They were joined by a tall young man from Oklahoma, named Dallas, who found a home in Houston. This man with the long beard had pitched with the promise of becoming an ace, into the hearts and minds of baseball fans in this win-starved city. Another teammate was a huge, bearded man who developed the ability to defy the odds and do something usually reserved for the fleet of foot. Evan Gattis, decidedly not fast, with the nickname ‘El Oso Blanco’ (‘The White Bear’), began to hit triples, an unlikely thing for such a big man.

What was unfolding before astonished eyes was becoming one of the most exciting seasons baseball fans in Houston had ever seen. They watched a team that was expected to finish last in the AL West, win more often than they lost. It was a team with promise, but in reality, little chance of competing for anything except a slot at or near the bottom of the standings.

In June, 20-year-old Correa, who began the year in Double-A, and spent a brief stint in Triple-A, made the monumental leap to the Major Leagues. Fans already knew of the promise of this young man; they knew there was a chance that Houston had a bona fide star of the future, ready to make his mark. It seemed unlikely that this man who was not old enough to legally buy beer could actually help the team so soon, but it quickly became clear that Correa was no ordinary promising player. It soon became obvious that he possessed rare abilities for one so young; talents that allowed him to do spectacular things on a big league field.

Next: Mid-Season

Mid-Season

Sep 1, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros shortstop

Carlos Correa

(1) hits a double during the third inning against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

As the All-Star game approached, Astros fans voted to support their team, especially keen on having two-time All-Star reserve and reigning MLB batting champion Altuve voted in as the starting second baseman. Altuve overcame early opposition to win the spot, and another step was taken in legitimizing the Houston Astros as a force.

In July, Craig Biggio became the first Astro to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a fitting event in this unlikely summer of Astros winning baseball. Biggio was arguably the greatest Astros player of all time, and during his Hall of Fame summer, his former team was shocking everyone by winning regularly.

Houston watched their Astros soar to first place and stay there for long periods. Their new shortstop was becoming a force at the bat and in the field. Altuve, the dynamic second baseman, all five foot five inches of towering presence and spectacular athletic ability, was in hot pursuit of another batting title and in pursuit of a playoff berth for his team. The phenomenon of Keuchel’s Korner took hold – the entirety of Minute Maid Park’s sections 107 through 109, awash in Astros orange t-shirts and fake beards. An incredible thing happened at MMP when Keuchel started – he won every time he pitched.

Fans watched their Astros through losing and winning streaks, and they marveled when their team regained first place in the AL West on July 28. In those first four months of the 2015 season, Houston fans began to enjoy their home team again, something that had not happened for many years. Still, although it was now the end of July, many waited for the collapse; the return to losing ways that most expected to happen.

But the Astros maintained their position, playing an exciting brand of baseball not seen in Minute Maid Park for ten long years. Fans began to buy tickets for Astros home games in numbers not seen in all those years. Excitement grew among the Astros hopeful, all the while still waiting for the bubble to burst, and for the Astros to play like the Astros of old.

The rest of the baseball world began slowly to notice what was happening, far away from the media spotlight cities of New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Los Angeles. Way down there, deep in the heart of Texas, was a dynamic group of young men playing baseball with a purpose not seen in recent memory.

As the trade deadline approached, excitement grew as Astros fans began to realize that with a few changes, the Astros could become a contender. A few key acquisitions could make the difference between a good team and a playoff team. Playoffs? Are Astros fans actually speaking seriously of playoffs in July? Yes, they were, and it wasn’t simply idle talk. By late July, it was obvious that the Houston Astros were not a fluke. This team was making believers out of many.

GM Jeff Luhnow did make some trades, acquiring Houston native Scott Kazmir from Oakland, and then pitcher Mike Fiers and center fielder Carlos Gomez from Milwaukee. The in-game sound level coming from Minute Maid Park was steadily increasing, and it reached a new height when, on August 21, Fiers threw a no-hitter in front of 34,000 delirious home fans. It was the 11^th no-hitter in Astros history, the first in twelve years, and the first ever from an Astros pitcher at Minute Maid Park (the previous home no-hitter happened in 1993 in the Astrodome).

Next: Then September Happened

Then September Happened

May 4, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman

Jose Altuve

(27) fields a ground ball during the fourth inning against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Cracks in the armor began to show, though, and on September 15, the Astros slipped out of first place for the first time since July 26. They were unable to regain the top spot, falling on September 25 to 4.5 games out of first place. But they battled back and won six of their final eight games to clinch the second AL Wild Card slot – their first playoff berth in ten years.

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When Marwin Gonzalez hit his 10th home run on September 9, the Astros tied a Major League record. Eleven Astros hit 10 or more home runs in 2015, equaling the record for most players with double-digit home runs. Gattis was quietly racking up triples, and by year’s end, he was tied for third in all of MLB with 11, all things considered, an incredible accomplishment.

Correa broke the Astros rookie record for home runs (22), set in 2000 by Lance Berkman, who played in 114 games that year. Correa broke the record playing in only 98 games in 2015. On October 4, Altuve became the first Astros player to have 200 or more hits in two seasons. He needed three hits in the last game to reach the goal, and he did it in pain, because that’s what such men do (he had fouled a pitch off his foot and been hit on the hand by a pitch in the previous game).

Keuchel, who was a high school student in Tulsa the last time an Astros pitcher was even close to being considered for the Cy Young Award, became the leading contender for the 2015 award. He is the lone AL 20 game winner this season, and the first Astro to do so in 10 years (Collin McHugh was right behind him, winning 19). The man who inspired the t-shirt logo, ‘Go beard or go home’, finished second in MLB with 232 innings pitched, only 2/3 of an inning behind first place Clayton Kershaw. Keuchel started 18 games at Minute Maid Park, went 15-0, and became the first player in MLB history to win as many as 14 games at home. He won pitcher of the month three times in 2015.

For the first time in ten long years, there were lines outside of Minute Maid Park prior to games. To turn the corner at Austin Street onto Texas Avenue more than an hour before game time, and see lines from every entrance nearly around the block, was a sight none of us had seen since the World Series year of 2005. To sit in that beautiful ballpark among 40,000 rabid fans, where for years there had been vast expanses of empty seats is something to remember for a lifetime. When a sellout crowd of believing Astros fans sang with deafening gusto during the seventh inning stretch: ‘THE STARS AT NIGHT, ARE BIG AND BRIGHT, ‘CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!’, it made for Texas-sized goose bumps on even the most hardened fan.

No matter what happens in the postseason, the 2015 Houston Astros have given to the city of Houston, the state of Texas, and Astros fans, something none will ever forget. What the Astros did was to ignite once again the passion for baseball among Astros fans everywhere. The Astros gave fans real reasons to show up and cheer. They gave us winning baseball for the first time in a decade.

Next: Houston Astros Make Playoffs for First Time in Ten Years!

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